The Blackout
The Blackout are a band from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. After some time backing Lostprophets on their Liberation Transmission Tour, along with Dopamine, Covergirl, Kids In Glass Houses, The Guns and Men, Women and Children, they released their first mini-album The Blackout! The Blackout! The Blackout!. In October 2007 the band released their debut album, We Are The Dynamite. Their second record, The Best In Town was released on May 25 in Europe and June 23 in the US, both via Epitaph Records. History Debut EP & We Are The Dynamite (2003-2008) The band formed in 2003 "out of boredom"Alert - The Blackout Rocklouder.co.uk, March 15 2009, originally called Ten Minute Preview, however after deciding to ditch their name at the time material they re-branded themselves The Blackout, the name was taken from a t-shirt saying "I survived the blackout" referring to the New York City blackout of 1977.Interview: The Blackout wordpress, October 27 2007 Having performed with the likes of fellow Welsh bands, including Funeral For A Friend, Kids in Glass Houses, The Automatic and Lostprophets, as well as Reuben, Fightstar, Avenged Sevenfold amongst other big name bands the band released their debut mini-album "The Blackout! The Blackout! The Blackout!" on 23 October 2006 through Fierce Panda Records, this led to Kerrang! nominating the band for best newcomers. Under a year later The Blackout released their debut album, We Are The Dynamite, on 1 October 2007 through Fierce Panda records. The first single taken from it is entitled The Beijing Cocktail and was released on 24 September 2007. We Are The Dynamite is the fastest selling album ever released on Fierce Panda. To coincide with the band's debut album release they announced a 14-date headline UK tour with Flood of Red and Pierce the Veil followed by joining the Taste of Chaos tour across Europe in November 2007 playing alongside, The Used, Rise Against, Aiden and Gallows. The second single released from the album We Are The Dynamite was It's High Tide Baby (which features Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins) and was released via Fierce Panda on 11 February 2008. However, due to a pressing error, the A side of this single ended up being The Beijing Cocktail instead of It's High Tide Baby. After further touring across the United Kingdom and Europe, April 2008 saw The Blackouts first jaunt to USA with a short tour of the mid west supporting Blessthefall ending in Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. In May, the band played at the Give It A Name festival for the second time, this time playing on the main stage alongside acts such as Silverstein, Billy Talent and Glassjaw. They also brought along entertainment team The Fuel Girls, to support their stage presence. The Blackout also supported Story of The Year on their UK The Black Swan tour, Both bands finished off the tour by playing Slam Dunk Festival in Leeds, UK. September 8 brought The Blackout's first visit to Japan playing a short 4 date stop with Alesana. On returning from Japan, The Blackout got straight on a bus to main land Europe to tour with fellow Welshmen Attack! Attack! then returning to the UK where they were supported by The Medic Droid, We are the Ocean and From First To Last. This tour saw The Blackout became only the third unsigned band ever to sell out the London Astoria. The Best In Town (2009-Present) In 2008 the band split with record label Fierce Panda, scrapping plans to release another two singles from We Are The Dynamite and "I Love Myself and I Wanna Live ", this ultimately led to the band being signed to Epitaph Records in February 2009. After finishing up touring in 2008 the band began recording their second album, The Best in Town with A vocalist, Jason Perry at Sonic Ranch, El Paso, Texas. The rest of the vocal tracking was completed in Southend on Sea in early January. In March 2009 the band set out to LA to film a music video for their first single from The Best In Town, "Children of the Night" and for their second single ,"Saves Our Selves", as well as meeting with record Label Epitaph, who are based in the US. The first single off The Best In Town, "Children Of The Night", will be released on the 18th of May. To promote this album, the band are touring with The Urgency, Hollywood Undead and Silverstein before playing at the Download Festival. Band Members * Sean Smith - Vocals * Gavin Butler - Vocals * James Davies - Guitar/Backing-vocals * Matthew Davies - Guitar/Backing-vocals * Rhys Lewis - Bass * Gareth Lawrence - Drums Discography Albums * Pull No Punches (3-Track Demo) (2004) * The Blackout!The Blackout!The Blackout! (Mini-LP) (2006) * We Are The Dynamite! (2007) * The Best In Town (2009) Singles Other Songs * My Generation (Limp Bizkit Cover) on Kerrang's compilation Higher Voltage. * The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies (Faith No More Cover) released as a b-side to The Beijing Cocktail. * I Kissed a Girl (Katy Perry Cover) released as a b-side on the "Children of the Night" CD * Pastor Of Muppets released as a b-side on the "Children of the Night" vinyl * Lap Dance (N*E*R*D cover) Videography * The Beijing Cocktail * It's High Tide Baby * Children Of The Night * Save Our Selves (The Warning) Honors *The Blackout were nominated for the Kerrang! British Newcomer awardKerrang Awards nominations, and will also be playing on the Kerrang! New Breed launch show. * In December 2006, The Blackout won best new Welsh act at the Pop Factory awards held in the Coal Exchange in Cardiff bay. The awards ceremony was televised on ITV1 Wales. *The Blackout won Best Unsigned Band in Kerrang! magazine's Readers Poll 2008. * Sean Smith came third in "Sexiest Male" category in the 2008 Reader's Poll for Kerrang! Magazine. References External links * The Blackout's Myspace * First fanpage about TBO! ever * Review on BBC Wales Music page * link Interview with The Blackout on Rocklouder * Interview with The Blackout on BearTrap Pods (Jun '08) * Sean Smith Featured Column in VerseOne Magazine. "What Grinds My Gears" * The Blackout Picspam Community on LiveJournal.com Category: Bands LTJ have played with Category: Links to Wikipedia